On pace alone, Toyota should be the favorites as they've won both of the first six hour races. And while Toyota may have the hot set up, 24 Hours is a bigger challenge. I still have to go with Audi because of all of the intangibles that they'll be ready for. They start doing their sums for Le Mans as soon as the new rules are published (and even after the fuel rules were re-written for Audi at Porsche's behest) so on strategy, Audi is hard to bet against. Porsche should be fast but they've proven to have some reliability issues with that trick suspension they're running. Look for the top six cars to be within a second of each other in qualifying. It's all going to be extremely close. BHW
Toyota seems to have the package, we'll see if Audi can win on strategy...or if they have a trick up their sleeve it's going to be a hell of a race!
Does anyone know what the TV broadcast schedules are? In Autoweek magazines TV listings they only show at 6:30pm EST Sat on FS2 and at 1am Sun on FS1
Looks as though Le Mans will be broadcast by FOX Sports variants throughout the race. Along with FOX Sports 1, there evidently is now FOX Sports 2 and FOXSportsGo.com which is a live streaming option. FOX Sports to Provide Flag-to-Flag Le Mans Coverage - Sportscar365 There are always the other live streaming options such as VIPBox.co and on-board camera from Audi and Corvette which features Radio Le Mans commentary. VIP Box | VIPBox TV - VIP Stand Sports On Demand For Free Home Corvette Racing BHW
Maybe our friend from NOLA is on to something. Ferrari is set to make a major announcement Saturday morning from Le Mans. I've never bought into these types of rumors especially when it concerns Ferrari joining LMP-1. But, this year, the rumors seem to gaining momentum. Ferrari back at Le Mans: more hints | News | Motorsport.com BHW
I'd love to see it, and certainly there's some crossover tech wise with the future of road cars; but Ferrari would be the only car maker on the planet with both an F1 and LMP1 team, and I wonder where the funds will come from. also a factory P1 team doesn't fit in with the last 25-30 years of Ferrari sports car programs (even the 333SP was largely a privateer program). but we shall see. Ferrari raising their profile in sports cars is good for everyone.
Porsche is celebrating its return to Le Mans with a special edition PDK Carrera S (all esthetics, no performance mods): Porsche 911 Martini Racing Edition| evo I pulled out my 1/18s of 917 #23 and the psychedelic GT1 . . . Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is Alonso checking out the Audi R18 TDI e-tron quattro at the FIA awards in Paris last year. His interest appeared to more than just casual. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvcH8vs01rk]Fernando Alonso VS Audi R18 E-Tron ! - YouTube[/ame] BHW
I don't think anyone can argue that the LMP1 cars are much more interesting than F1 cars with just as much technology
Nope, if anything I think the current LMP1 cars are more jaw dropping. They looks like ******** space ships.
First time I saw the R18 prototype in all black I was like "holy cow they made darth vader into a racecar!" Looks insane and I was immediately interested in figuring out what other tech it had.
back to the race at hand, first qualy sessions tomorrow. Toyota seems to be dominating, but at La Sarthe Audi is very much at home. Allthough Peugeot have proven they can be beaten. Whatever happens, it is going to be close. The Toyota me have the performance edge, but Audi will Always be close.
Did you see what happened? Just saw a picture of the car, looks like what you would expect if a car hit a wall midair, incredible damage.. I am going to refrain from linking to it until we get word of his condition. Praying all of the safety gear did its job.
didn't see the incident. you can follow along here: dennis511 on Justin.tv pic of the car. MASSIVE damage. prayers for Loic Image Unavailable, Please Login
The amount of cockpit damage is discouraging, much more than this incident from '11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zieVq1JDAEo
